4th Annual BYC NYD Hatch-a-long

[FeyRaine]

Also, since lockdown is tomorrow, should I candle NOW or tomorrow just before noon?
Easier to do it tonight while it is dark...hum, decisions decisions...

Also, humidity from lockdown forward for chicken eggs ideally is what? over 60%?

 

[chicken fever]

I just finished candling, three more were taken out, late quitters...9( out of 30 ) will go into lockdown tomorrow afternoon!

Also, since lockdown is tomorrow, should I candle NOW or tomorrow just before noon?
Easier to do it tonight while it is dark...hum, decisions decisions...

Also, humidity from lockdown forward for chicken eggs ideally is what? over 60%? 

 

[Sally Sunshine]

DUCK brooder?



any special needs in the brooder for food and water and what feed do I need on hand??



anyone have links???

 

[chiqita]

I haven't heard back from My Pet Chicken yet. I will update when I do.

That is NOT acceptable. ( less polite things were said here but not typed) They historically have good customer service , I'd get back to them if you haven't already.

Does anyone know where the flapper picture contest is and if its still open my son was able to catch one of the babies flapping and its to cute.

ok, saw they answered that one, carry on.

You can get really ghetto with Guinea Pig cages (like I do) and just drape towels along the sides to seal out drafts. Tada! It's a brooder n stuff!

lol

I'm not sure - I don't remember any winners announced either - but I did notice your signature says you have hatch cams! Cool!

There are a fair few people who under the weather that are supposed to be judging contests. I am one of the slackers that was supposed to update everything today and didn't. I twisted my ankle and spent the day watching TV instead. Sorry I would expect most ones to be announced next week. I know the contests have not been smooth this time, but at least we learned a lot!

I keep my quail & hatch out more eggs. The ones you just hatched will be laying in aprox. 8 weeks. I had 2 little cages with 3 in each but lost a hen last week. Now I have the 5 that are left in 1 cage until I get a few more to add back in. I try to put 2-3 hens with each little male & just let them do their thing. Too many males will result in bald hens & too many hens will result in dead males. I have a friend who converted an old camper into a coop for her quail & she has 20-30 of them just running all over in there. Since it was already wired for electric, this also allows her to provide them with a heater in the winter to keep them laying. Mine were in the barn before moving & are now in the basement. Eventually I'd like to build them a small coop outside or a larger cage in the basement, but for now they are in a small cage in the basement until we get set back up from the move. Quail do NOT fare well being penned with chickens. Chickens can kill them very easily since they are so tiny in comparison.

I do not keep anything but seramas and silkies with quail unless they are older then the newborn chicks . Quail can also catch stuff from chicken poo so its not good long term either. I have kept 1 week old quail babies in with newborn chicks. Mostly if one chick hatches early and I don't want it to be alone. I also separate silkies and seramas as they are very gentle and my mammoth marans out compete them.

AS for brooders, I use fish tanks. And a lot of them have wire tops to rest a light on. I also use a heating pad with a top type thing ( a hollowed out log, but anything will do) on it as a fake mother for them to hide under and be warm and dark. They LOVE it.

 

[chiqita]

LOCKDOWN!

For those of you that are new, lockdown is when you close the incubator lid turn off the turner and DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EGGS! Its the 3 days of crazy up and down excitement and worry when your eggs start to hatch. Why do you do this? Well for a couple of reasons. You stop turning so the baby chicks can get into position in the egg. You don't open the incubator so the humidity ( turned up) stays stable and no one get stuck in he egg. Once an egg is pipped it relies on the humidity of the air outside it to keep it moist enough to not get stuck in the membranes while they are zipping and escaping the egg.

Once the chicks are out of the egg they will start peeping like mad and "fluff" out over several hours. The question that will be asked several times over the next few days is " should I take this chick out of the incubator?" The answer will depend on many things including how well your incubator holds humidity. If there are pips on the other eggs, leave the chick if you can. If there are no pips then its a different story. If you want more advice on individual chicks, ask, that's what a hatch a long is for!

Once your chicks are out you will be sticking them in a brooder where they will be nice and toasty. You need a heat source that will give your chicks around 95 degrees and a place they can be safe from drafts and get air ( don't want it tightly closed) and something on the bottom that can be changed and is stable for them to walk on ( paper towels, old pillow case, newspaper that is NOT slick) so you can remove poop once they start . Keep an eye out for wobbly feet and pasty butt in your new chicks those are the 2 most common problems. Also, remember baby birds LOVE to drown themselves, so its not a bad idea to put rocks or marbles in their waterer so they don't fall asleep IN it and drown.

If you have a single chick hatch with no friends, you might want to put in a small mirror for them to look in and a stuffed friend for them to cuddle with. Also might want to find a friend for them if you can. Check craigslist ( can also ask on cl sometimes people who do not intend to sell chicks will feel compassion for your lonely baby) your friends, and local feed stores.

I'm sure there will be a lot of advice from our vets thats better then what I'm giving, so keep an eye on the thread. Ill post this again tomorrow at noon when people start moving the eggs. But I thought I'd start now.
Tomorrow the roller coaster starts, is everyone ready???

 

[FeyRaine]

OH, chickenfever not good! sorry. & I don't want to hear that phrase "late quiters", I've not candled in several days now.
But my temps have been swinging , 'cause the cats keep finding ways to sneak into the room & lay on the 'bator
which shoots it to 102 in no time, then I overcompensate and drop it to 98 even 97 eeek.

But I keep telling myself that is just like the broody hen taking a break to do her stuff, so it is all gonna be ok...

Now I gotta go candle and make the call on those 4 eggs I think were duds all along.

Good luck to everyone candling tonight, hope it is all good news : )

 

[ronott1]

Also, since lockdown is tomorrow, should I candle NOW or tomorrow just before noon?
Easier to do it tonight while it is dark...hum, decisions decisions...

Also, humidity from lockdown forward for chicken eggs ideally is what? over 60%?

Candle at lockdown. Put the big part of the air cell up.

60 to 72% humidity works well for me.

 

[chiqita]

DUCK brooder?



any special needs in the brooder for food and water and what feed do I need on hand??



anyone have links???

Ducks are a MESS. They need to be able to clean their noses in the water, but they spill it everywhere. So often people only give them water part of the time. I have only had older ducks ( 4-5 weeks) so I cant speak to babies, but I'm sure mfp and cof can.

We let them "swim " ( read go into the water and splash it all over the place) when it was warm but they dont have oil so they cant really swim when they don't have mommas and they are babies.

Thats all I know!

 

[FeyRaine]

Candle at lockdown. Put the big part of the air cell up.

60 to 72% humidity works well for me.

I've got someone coming to pick up a Trio (Roo, pol pullet , hen) that I am giving them free & of course I messed up at told them to arrive at noon tomarrow.

So I think I'm just going to candle now, 2 cats, 2 dogs 1 DH are all asleep, it doesn't get much calmer than this for squinting at eggs by flashlight.
I'm going to leave them in the egg cartons (styro w/ bottoms punched out) I think, unless someone shouts to me that is bad, but I think the floor of the coolerbator is going to be fairly filled so
that might minimize egg-hockey when the first ones hatch. & unless the 4 questionable eggs smell I'm going to leave them in for lockdown on the slim chance they are viable.
I've got to fashion a wire mesh w/ 1/4 inch hardware cloth to cover the water tray to boost the humidity for lockdown, not too worried on that.
Otherwise its just getting the round 1 brooder set up in the bathroom & getting the rest of the house cleaned for the ppl I invited for the NYDHatchalong open house shindig.
oh, and if the ice storm would go away, that would be super nice ; >

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: thanks!